Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Now that I'm a Mama I listen to street music

The first album I ever bought of Lionel Ritchie's Dancing on the Ceiling and I remember clearly listening to it with my pink walkman in Grade 4 with my boyfriend, Mark, sitting beside me. I quietly sang, "I only want to say I love you" over and over, along with the song hoping he'd hear me. In grade 5 when my friend was showing me all of her heavy metal cassettes I was completely clueless. I didn't really like them but I thought that maybe I should since everybody else did. So I borrowed some and tried to like it. It never worked and I didn't really care.

In High School, I started hanging out with a couple of guys who had a band. They were shocked at how little I knew about popular music because they expected more from a person who had been taken music lessons for most of her life. They took me through the CD store multiple times, surprised that their recitations of band names was met with my blank look.

These CDs basically sum up the listening I have been doing over the past few years:

Sara Bareilles, Little Voice

In the Heights

Gavin DeGraw, all three albums

Glee Soundtracks

The Essential Billy Joel (2 Discs)

Having such a short list is a stark contrast to the days when I would buy new CDs almost weekly. (There was a year when I claimed close to $1,000.00 on my tax filing for CDs.) I loved being able to find new recordings of all kinds and add them to my collection. It was so easy to go into a store and come out half an hour later with two to four CDs in my hand. (The reality of using student loans to do this didn't hit until a few years later!)CD purchases were one part therapy to help me cope with a hard break up, one part research/professional development and one part entertainment. At this point in my life I nearly lived in my car because of all the places I needed to get to and music played an important role to keep me awake! (Nothing like Bach to keep me calm during nasty winter driving.) Listening to music was important to me.

Nowadays I am beyond clueless as to what is current. The spaces meant for 'popular bands' in Sweet One's book have been left blank. I'm more likely to have Elmo's World in my head than I am anything that is remotely connected to the adult world. But maybe this is a little more informative than I thought. After typing who sings go outside on sesame street episode 4202 into my google search spot I learned that it was Jason Mraz. Now I'm singing a small part of the melody line from I'm Yours. "I won't stay inside, no more, I can not wait to go outdoors...." Oops, that's the Sesame Street one. I guess I still have some work to do to join the adult world!

About Me

I moved to a small town in 2006 where people thrive on knowing everybody's business and kindred spirits are as hard to find as a good haircut. I am married to a man who, despite his tall and skinny frame, shows me a love so big that keeps on growing. Our daughter was born in January 2009 and our "Little Man" joined us the first day of April 2011. Being called Mommy makes my skin crawl - I much prefer Mama or Mum. Constantly hoping Sweet One won't wake up too early, we are learning what each day with two kids is all about. I love coffee and going to matinees. I watch too much tv. I've been told that I "think too much" and so with my heart on my sleeve, I come to this page hoping to clear my head and make sense of myself, this place and my life.